At first, the magnificent city looked like an illusion, at least to Zack.
He'd never seen anything quite like it.
The city rose out of the horizon like a mirage, too vast, too deliberate, too perfectly placed to belong to the Outer Rim Zack had clawed his way through.
The closer the Veklar train drew, the more the illusion sharpened, slowly coming into focus.
At a glance, great circular tiers spread outward from a central spire that pierced the sky, each ring stacked above the last like a colossal crown laid upon the earth.
The Middle Rim's pride.
The beating heart of Asphodel.
On the Veklar, an announcement rang out throughout the train's interior.
[Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Elengor. ]
From a distance, it looked almost serene.
Up close, it was anything but.
The outermost districts clung to the ground like an afterthought...dense, sprawling, and woefully chaotic.
The Veklar smoothly glided into the glowing district without ever slowing down.
"Bloody damn..."
Zack stared at the exotic landscape with a mixture of shock and awe.
Structures piled upon one another in uneven clusters, their rooftops bristling with antennae, cables, and flickering neon strips. But even this "lowest" layer dwarfed anything Zack had ever seen in the Outer Rim.
Next to him, Eddie grinned with barely contained excitement.
"This is freaking amazing!"
The chubby man almost looked like a child, his eyes sparkling with joy.
Zack spared him a quiet glance, then slowly leaned back in his seat, quietly taking in the sights.
Next to him, the Enforcers stood completely still, the radiant lights flickering and reflecting off their enhanced suits.
Zack quietly stared at the intricate structures, slowly snaking their way upwards.
Above that, the second ring rose abruptly, held aloft by immense black pylons that hummed with the same restrained energy as the Veklar itself. Sleek transit lines shot between sections of the city like veins of light, transporting people and goods at impossible speeds.
And then there was the third ring.
That was where the world changed.
The architecture grew impossibly refined.
Smooth, gleaming structures of glass and pale metal that were carefully curved like sculptures rather than buildings.
The light bent differently here, caught and refracted by materials Zack couldn't name. Gardens hung in the air, suspended terraces overflowing with bioluminescent flora, their soft glow competing with the artificial reactor cores embedded into the city's frame.
The small spheres of light shone with brilliance akin to small suns
And above all that grandeur stood the central spire.
A needle of blinding white and gold that seemed to hum with authority.
Clouds parted around it as if unwilling to touch it. From its peak, faint arcs of energy spread outward in a vast dome, barely visible—yet unmistakably there.
A barrier.
The train began to slow, and the illusion of distance was shattered completely.
Now Zack could see the movement—thousands upon thousands of people.
Shapes that moved too fast, too fluid, the Guardians.
Massive platforms extended from the city's mid-tier, and one of them aligned perfectly with the incoming Veklar.
Zack's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Ffuuu..."
Mechanical arms, no, not mechanical.
They were something much more refined.
The contraptions shifted into place, guiding the train into the station with unnerving precision.
There was no chaos. No screeching of tracks,
It was an intricately precise control from years of engineering and improvement upon the design of the veklars. Humanity had progressed in this aspect at least by leaps and bounds.
And with that, the Veklar slowly ground to a halt, wild bolts of electricity surging off of it onto the tracks.
[Welcome to Elengor, Have a nice stay.]
Zack slowly took in measured breaths to calm his wildly pounding heart.
The pits of Tartarus where he had grown up couldn't compare to the beauty and magnificence that he was seeing, and that was only in the outer layer.
But now beholding Elengor in all of its magnificent glory, Zack was slightly breathless.
Eddie let out a nervous, shaky breath next to him.
Zack closed his eyes, focusing on the sound of his heartbeat.
What he had once imagined as a dream now stood before him as something else entirely.
"So this is it, huh...
The city was everything he'd expected and even more.
Despite its innate light and darkness, Zack wasn't going to let the allure of the radiant city draw him in.
He was here for one reason and one reason only.
To survive.
His eyes slowly opened, hardening with determination.
Camilla rose from her seat, still the picture of elegance and refinement. Her dazzling beauty seemed to brighten the room.
The armed escort around her followed, surrounding her and the two men almost immediately.
"On your feet!" A gruff voice commanded.
Zack slowly rose to his feet, sparing the weapons that each of the Enforcers held.
Some of the Enforcers looked unarmed, but that wasn't a theory that he was willing to test.
It was simply too risky and would also probably get him senselessly killed.
Therefore, the best course of action would be to watch and stick to the meek persona he was outwardly projecting.
"I'll survive this...and once I survive, I'll get my revenge."
One of the enforcers stepped in front of him, roughly grabbing the electronic cuffs binding his arms together.
With a slight gesture, the electronic cuffs clicked open, then rapidly shrunk into a small module that the figure holstered to his custom module belt strapped to his waist.
Camilla stopped in front of him, sparing him an amused glance.
" Look alive, Zack Fletcher. This is your moment to shine."
The massive carriage door slid open, and in the next moment, Zack stepped into a dark, veiled hall.
Camilla walked briskly, the enforcers around her marching in step with her.
Zack threw a sideways glance at the burly man walking beside him.
Eddie's hands were trembling slightly. The older man rubbed his palms together, letting out a shaky breath, then a small belch.
"I guess this is it, huh?"
The man made a strange symbol with his fingers, gesturing almost as though he was warding off something only he could see.
Zack stared at him for a few moments, then turned away.
"Yeah. This was it."
The group arrived at a massive set of tenebrous dark doors where a single man in a suit of the purest black stood, waiting.
Then the massive doors opened.